It was gruesome. And it wasn’t funny. So how do you recover from something like that? And can you? Amid the furor surrounding Kathy Griffin, crisis management experts say it’s possible.

Comedienne Kathy Griffin has given it her best shot, admitting that she badly misjudged a stunt in which she posed with a fake bloody mask designed to look like the head of President Donald Trump. The image was shot by the celebrity photographer Tyler Shields. But even Griffin’s close friend and CNN New Year’s Eve co-host Anderson Cooper tweeted: “For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.” But so far only one venue — Route 66 Casino Hotel in Albuquerque, N.M. — has canceled one of her upcoming shows. “Many advertisers will want nothing to do with her,” says Ronn Torossian, chief executive of 5WPR.

As the backlash was gathering momentum on Tuesday, Griffin posted an apology on Twitter
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and Facebook
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that read, “I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong,” with a video, in which she says, “I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue. I ask your forgiveness. I’m taking down the image. I’m going to ask the photographer to take down the image. I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far. I made a mistake and I was wrong.” Of course, the image will be online for as long as the internet exists and, for some, no apology will be enough. But did Griffin do anything right?

Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!

‘The most important thing is speed. If you wait too long then anything you do is going to seem insincere. From what I could see from the video, she was relatively sincere about it.’
Andrew Ricci, vice president at Levick Communications in Washington, D.C.

“The most important thing is speed,” says Andrew Ricci, vice president at Levick Communications in Washington, D.C. “If you wait too long then anything you do is going to seem insincere.” Anything more than 24 hours is not regarded as effective or real, he adds. “From what I could see from the video, she was relatively sincere about it, particularly for someone who makes her living by being a provocative and abrasive comedienne. This could have gone on to be a three-day or five-day story,” he says. “It will still get some noise, but the fallout will be much less than had she let this drag on.”

Another plus about Griffin’s apology: It was unconditional. “I applaud her for stepping up to quickly apologize and remove the content,” says Toronto-based marketing consultant Evan Carmichael. “In a world of fake apologies from politicians, athletes and celebrities, it’s refreshing to see a genuine one. People make mistakes. And while that doesn’t excuse the horrific image she shared, it’s great to see someone accepting their mistake and owning it.” (Case in point: After a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines
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flight last month, chief executive Oscar Munoz initially took 24 hours to release a full apology stating, “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”)

For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.

But not everyone was buying Griffin’s apology. “If you follow her career, you know she makes a living at going over the line, something she admits in the apology,” says W. Timothy Coombs, a professor in the Department of Communications who specializes in crisis management at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. “This will cause people to question her sincerity.” But public relations executive Michael Fineman says her core fan base will remain intact: “Those who make up the public either love her or hate her, so I don’t believe this will hurt her in the long term.”

‘If you follow her career, you know she makes a living at going over the line, something she admits in the apology. This will cause people to question her sincerity.’
W. Timothy Coombs, a communications professor at Texas A&amp;M University

Whether or not Griffin’s apology was fast enough or even sincere enough for some, others say no apology will ever go far enough for some people who are not diehard Griffin fans, including advertisers and CNN. “Given Kathy Griffin’s history as a comedienne, I doubt many considered her apology to be sincere,” says Jonathan Bernstein, president of the public-relations consultancy Bernstein Crisis Management. Since Griffin posted the photo, SquattyPotty bathroom products suspended its campaign with Griffin and CNN said Wednesday it was cutting ties with Griffin. “CNN has terminated our agreement with Kathy Griffin to appear on our New Year’s Eve program,” it said.

For Bernstein, no apology will ever be enough. “There are some wrongs you just can’t right.”

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